Hurricane Ian could be set to make landfall in Florida this week, according to forecasts, and this could put a strain on resources in tackling the aftermath of storm Fiona in Canada, a loss adjuster has warned.
“There’s a hurricane right now that is tracking towards Florida,” Crawford chief client officer Heather Matthews said on Monday, referring to Ian. “If that takes a direct hit on Florida, that will have a pretty substantial impact on resources for both the US and Canada.”
Described by Matthews as a “historic” storm for the country, ex-Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Atlantic Canada on Saturday as a post tropical cyclone, first touching down in Nova Scotia.
In Newfoundland, some houses were “literally swept into the ocean”, Matthews said, and the country could be looking at “a lot more” total losses than seen in previous wind events.
In Canada, Crawford saw six times the usual volume of traffic to its call centre lines over the weekend – and its contractor call line saw volumes at 50 times the usual amount.
Crawford has begun mobilizing its contractor network within Canada, with staff from Ontario and Quebec expected to assist with efforts. It is also in discussions with its US business.
Canadian armed forces have been brought in to assist with the cleanup operation.
In the Newfoundland town of Port aux Basques, population 4,067, alone the cost of damages is expected to be in the “millions” of dollars, Mayor Brian Button has said.
At least two fatalities have been reported in Canada, while the storm reportedly left 16 dead in Puerto Rico before it headed north and swept past Bermuda.
As for Hurricane Ian, it is currently unknown where exactly the storm might make landfall in Florida, if indeed it does; Matthews commented that “we’ll know more as the week progresses”.
However, mandatory evacuation orders have been put in place for at-risk zones in Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota counties. A statewide emergency has been declared.
Currently, it looks likely to continue slowly approaching the West Coast of Florida over the coming days, with landfall anticipated near Tampa, Florida, on Thursday, RMS has said.
The category three major hurricane made landfall southwest off La Coloma, a town in the Pinar Del Rio Province of Cuba at around 4.30am local time, and is crossing the far western tip of Cuba with significant wind and storm surge impacts anticipated, RMS updated.
Life threatening storm surge is a risk along the east coast of Florida from Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center has warned.
The Department for Emergency Management has received 338 requests for assistance from local counties, with 293 of these having already been fulfilled, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“This thing is coming this week, and we know that, and we know we are going to have some major impacts throughout the state of Florida,” DeSantis warned during a Monday press conference.
